PASIC 2012 - Austin, Texas

What a great PASIC this year!

It was almost non-stop on my booth. I sold every last triangle and - as you can see - I had a few! Interest in them was already pretty high, but it was boosted further by the use of my triangles by Nicholas Ormrod of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, London in his Symphonic Accessories masterclass and also by Keith Aleo of Zildjian in his clinic.

I had visits from players with all the local symphony orchestras - Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, plus the Florida Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic and others. There was a lot of interest also in the 100% reliable bowing capabilities of the Bat-Wing gongs. I was told to rename them "Lord of the Rings" gongs!

So, besides the triangles, I also sold a bunch of cymbals, hi-hats and smaller gongs. A very successful show.

I had the pleasure of meeting with old friends, plus making a whole load of new ones including Johnny Rabb, Ari Hoenig, Todd Sucherman, Luis Conte, Richie Garcia and Ralph Humphrey.

PASIC has a lovely relaxed atmosphere. It's all about the art and about percussion education. This show, more than others, is much more about cameraderie than competition. The setting too - Austin in Autumn - was a lot of fun. Great people, great vibe, great food.

I believe PASIC is back in Indianapolis next year - which is nice enough, especially the selection of "brewpubs". But, I'm looking forwards more to a return to Texas at some point.

Next to Last Night of the Proms

Long time no blog. I really need to make a note to write updates more often!

Yesterday, I was in the Royal Albert Hall in London, to catch the last part of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's rehearsal of Haydn and Strauss before meeting up with the 7-strong percussion section. The music I heard was quite beautiful and haunting, but that was soon to be replaced with the clashing of cymbals and the pinging of triangles - sometimes several at once!

This often happens when I show instruments to a group of people, and it does amuse me. It's not so bad with triangles, but with cymbals, in a small room, several people all trying them out at once is quite cacophonous and I'm sure each player can't really hear in proper detail the instrument they are checking out. Waiting and taking turns is better, but I can't fault the enthusiasm to hear the sounds!

That said, the Austrians didn't all go at the cymbals together; just the triangles, and just at first. I am very grateful for their feedback and opinions on my work. Every orchestra has its own "house sound". The triangle they currently use is 20-year old stock, no longer produced, found in the back of a dusty music store - the culmination of a long search. It was nice that 3 of my offerings also made the cut - one Brass and two high-carbon Steel hand-forged triangles. Plus a further two, much smaller Bronze ones for operatic works.

Comparing my clash cymbals with theirs was most instructive - and amusing that the pair they considered very bright were considered "really quite dark" by American symphony players back in May. As I said, every orchestra has its own tastes!

So, how can I refine my orchestral cymbals based on such contrasting feedback? Well, there were still common themes coming out - things I hadn't heard in the cymbals myself. Time to train my ears more, maybe pull in some Fourier analysis too. Onwards and upwards!

Ich bin ein Frankfurter

Well, sort of ;-)

I'm just back from spending the best part of a week in Frankfurt, exhibiting my Artisan Cymbals and Gongs at the MusikMesse trade fair - the largest music industry trade show in the world. The culmination of a few months' hard graft and preparations.

The Frankfurt Messe is vast - absolutely huge. The place is like a major international airport: 9 or more large exhibition hall buildings, some of which have multiple floors, plus a handful of stages and marquees. 80,000 people come through the doors over the 4 days of the show. Really the place to officially launch my new business!

And what a response! Thank you to everyone who came to the stand. The trade and the public seemed more than a little curious about my creations! It was great to see the variety of people who came to my booth (many of them more than once, often the 2nd and 3rd times with someone else in tow - "you have got to see this..."). I made some great contacts, new friends, met up with some old ones again and even made a few sales - La Baguetterie in France placing quite a large order, for one.

Big hits were the 1.25m Stainless Steel Bat-Wing Gong, the 60cm Nickel Silver round Gong and the 1m tall, 7kg Bronze Hand Gong. The latter has a wonderful delay in it's response to the mallet - you strike it and then the sound swells up noticably afterwards. This took a few people by surprise. They'd hit it, not get much, hit it again harder, still not much, hit it harder still and then WAAAHHHH!! Then they'd cover their ears, or run away, or both. Most amusing to observe!

Watching people play the Stainless Steel Rides was interesting too. 2 types of people. Those who "get it" and are fascinated by the new sound. And those who don't hear what they expect from a cymbal - end of story. Those people in the second camp were ushered quickly over to the Bronze Ride Cymbals - haha!

I was helped out greatly on the stand by my good friend from Dachau, RaBe. He was very enthusiastic and his German was, naturally, rather better than my half-forgotten schoolboy abilities. Another friend, Roger, from the UK helped for a few days too. Thank you both!

I think I may well have collapsed from exhaustion without the assistance. The last couple of weeks before the show were very busy - lots of late nights, microwave meals and take-away food at the workshop. The drive, from Bath to Frankfurt via the Dover-Calais ferry was quite gruelling too, given that I had very little time to take breaks. Ha! Packing the car took so long, I was 2 ferry crossings late. By the time the stand was set up on Tuesday night, I'd been awake for about 40 hours solid. I tell you, my display nearly fell down a couple of times as I tried to assemble it single-handed and half-shot!




But, it all worked out well in the end. Lots of "big name drummers" came to visit the stand. But, to spare their blushes (and endorsement deals with other cymbal companies) I'll not out them here. My Bronze ride cymbals were a particular hit. I had great support too from fellow independent cymbalsmiths Michael Paiste and Roberto Spizzichino. It's a small and friendly world between us hammer-wielding guys. The bigger and smaller companies came to have a good look too. I half wonder if I'll see my designs reproduced from other quarters next year.

I was filmed / interviewed 4 times - I'm getting used to it now. The first one is out there already - see here on youtube. Plus, 3 or 4 major drum / music magazines should be doing articles in the next few months also. Keep an eye out!

It was nice to have a good look around at the other exhibitors in the "Beat" Hall too. Some great cymbals and drums being produced. The same as last year, I think UFIP, Dream and Istanbul Agop were my favourites. One incident that particularly made me smile as I walked round was being grabbed by a guy from the Sabian stand - "are you Matt Nolan?" Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me...


Outside of the 9am to 6pm of the show (well, more like 8:30 to 6:45!), my "crew" and I had a great time sampling the local restaurants and beers. We also took this opportunity to meet up again with some locals that we know. A great night (not without incident) on Wednesday with Michael Paiste and his friend Marcel. I'll not forget that one.



The return journey was much smoother than the outward. No swearing at the sat-nav either. I even arrived several ferry-crossings early at Calais. Typical.

Now I must tidy my flat a bit (i.e. undo the mess that accumulated during the build-up to the Messe) ready for the arrival of Steve Hubback tomorrow. Steve is going to stay for a couple of days and borrow my workshop to make some pieces for Paolo Vinaccia.

Next stop, The Rebeats Chicago Drum Show!